This past winter, my amazing girlfriend took us to the Riviera Maya for my birthday. She had been antsy to take a trip for a while, and figured my birthday was the perfect excuse to take a little trip down south of the border. Thankfully, less than one week earlier, I was able to finally find a DJI Mavic (drone) for sale locally and had the opportunity to fly it around our resort.
One of the things that stood out to me was how Mexican resorts/theme parks are so integrated into the surrounding jungle. Paths are carved between the trees, and ancient Mayan ruins still stand meters from where new construction is going up. There is a certain respect for what is already there that we don't see much of in the US where the first step to a construction project is usually clear cutting the land for development and then after the fact trying to plant a few small trees here and there.
We stayed at the Occidental at Xcaret, an all inclusive resort a little bit south of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. They had this amazing little inlet with a glorious beach, cold drinks available everywhere, and good food around their grounds.
If you wanted to play in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico instead of a protected inlet, there was a small area nearby that offered a more secluded vibe. I just couldn't get over how blue the water was!
One of the best parts of flying a drone down there is there are no restrictions on flight other than no flying at night. In the US, we're restricted to 400 feet above ground level and we need to alert local flight control towers to our plans of operation that day. This is the same beach from above, but at a different angle. Again, that water is just SO BLUE - coming from the east coast of the US where it's typically a brackish green/gray, it's paradise down there.
We also took a day trip a little further south to Xel-Ha. It's an inlet that's fed by natural springs and features snorkeling, tubing, rope courses, and of course plenty of booze and food. I struggled to find time to fly my drone around, but I did capture some amazing video footage I'll be posting soon, too. The sheer number of fish in the inlet is mind boggling, and getting to snorkel around with them almost at arms reach was a surreal experience for me. We even caught a glimpse of a manta ray stirring up silt on the bottom of the bay.
